“No. No, no other occasion,” Deen told host Matt Laurer. “I have never… It’s just not a part of who we are.”

“Are you a racist?” Laurer asked. “No. No, I’m not,” she replied. “I have never intentionally hurt anybody on purpose, and I never would.”

Deen appeared on the NBC morning show after cancelling a scheduled appearance last Friday, saying she was overwhelmed with the situation she faced.

That followed media reports that Deen, under oath in a deposition being prepared in a discrimination case filed against her and her brother, admitted using the “N” word, “a very long time ago” following a bank robbery.

She told Laurer she never considered lying under oath and avoiding the answer in her deposition, telling him the only people she was prejudiced against were “thieves and liars.”

When Laurer pressed her on whether her appearance was prompted by financial concerns stemming from reaction to her comments, Deen said she was grateful that most of her sponsors were sticking with her.

Those who support her, she said, “know what is being said about me is not true” and challenged anyone who has not said something they wished they could take back to “pick up that rock and hit me as hard as you can.”

“There’s someone evil out there that saw what I worked for and they want it,” she said fighting tears.